


We're gonna start a fire

by Webtrinsic



Series: The Fantastic Four's MCU Origin, with lots of Johnny whump (S.1) [1]
Category: Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four (2015), Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Fantastic Four (Movies 2005-2007), Fantastic Four (Ultimateverse), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Baxter Tower, Bullying, Everett Ross is a good guy, F/M, Fights, Fire Powers, Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity Gems, Insecure Johnny Storm, Jealousy, Johnny is a Pyro, Mentioned Major Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Origin Story, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Probably OOC but its my AU so..., Protective Team, Pyromania, Pyromaniac Johnny Storm, Reed Richards acting as Johnny's Father Figure, Restraints, SHIELD, Stitches, Team as Family, Teenager Johnny Storm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:40:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23172577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Webtrinsic/pseuds/Webtrinsic
Summary: The world is having a hard time settling after those they lost for five long years are returned to them and Spider-Man is revealed to be a traitor to Tony Stark. New villains are creeping out of the shadows and the world is bereft of heroes with the Avengers either dead or retired.This all changes when Reed Richards is entrusted with studying the left over cosmic radiation on the gauntlet that Tony Stark used to bring back half of all humanity. Four new heroes rise, one a little later than the rest. But it is Johnny who manages to best the next up incoming mastermind: Doctor Doom.(First Part to an eight part series: My take on the Fantastic Four's possible connection to the MCU as we know it) (Lot's of Johnny Whump){First Chapter is a short detailed outline of what you need to know to understand this AU including who each character is played by!}
Relationships: Ben Grimm & Reed Richards & Johnny Storm & Susan Storm, Everett Ross & Johnny Storm, Everett Ross & Shuri, Reed Richards/Susan Storm (Fantastic Four)
Series: The Fantastic Four's MCU Origin, with lots of Johnny whump (S.1) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665754
Comments: 8
Kudos: 31





	1. AU Information before you read:

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cupofstars00](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupofstars00/gifts).



> I'm honestly so hyped for this series so I hope you guys are too

**Key Points before you read the story to understand the AU:**

  * This takes place right after Spider-Man Far From home and exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  * Their origins of powers have also been tweaked to fit the mcu canon.
  * The characters ages have been decided by me and their origins in meeting may be slightly skewed when pertaining to Ben and Reed.
  * Reed Richards is Thirty One, Susan is Thirty, Ben is Forty Three, while Johnny is sixteen.
  * Baxter Tower is actually Stark Tower simply renamed.
  * Ben is able to shift like the Hulk from his hard rocky form to his human form.
  * Fury is again in control of SHIELD.
  * Johnny's clothes don't burn.
  * Both Valeria and Franklin Richard do not exist in the story other than being suggested in the future. 



> _This is a Johnny-Centric angst/whump fic!_
> 
> * * *

And last but not least, this fic is not based on the 2015 or 2005 movies and is based off of Spldeypool’s (Spldeypool on instagram) fancast which I wholeheartedly agree with aside from the situation with David Harbor joining the MCU for the Black Widow movie, so I’ve added another actor you may refer to instead as well.

Reed Richards: John Krasinski 

Susan Storm: Emily Blunt

Ben Grimm: David Harbor or David Denman 

Johnny Storm: Taron Egerton

Victor Von Doom: Cillian Murphy


	2. We're gonna start a fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the Fantastic Four in the MCU, and Johnny's struggle with his destructive powers.

Months had passed since the other half of humanity had been restored and the streets still never failed to be lit up at night with candlelight vigils for the fallen man of Iron. The world still cried at his sacrifice, while others roared at the now revealed identity of Spider-Man.

Opinions were mixed, most not believing this boy betrayed the man that saved them all while others thought it was an open and shut case. Reed tried not to pay too much attention to the politics of what had happened, he had his own work to focus on no matter how badly he wanted to at least check up on the young hero. Then again who was he to say anything? 

He wasn’t a superhero, just a man with an above average intellect and a paternal instinct stemming from his brother-in-law who he’d raised. Johnny, also sixteen years old, had also just awoken from a five year long dust bath.

When they’d woken up again and word got out on exactly what had happened, he’d wanted to grab Sue, Johnny, his best friend Ben too, and take a vacation. They may have not actually lost anytime since they’d all vanished, but that didn’t discourage the urge for them to reconvene.

Rather it be luck or something calculated, Reed didn’t quite understand why they’d gifted him what had once been Stark Tower. Then Avengers tower, and now Baxter tower.

It could have been the labs within that they figured a man of his intellect could use. Especially when not only the government, but SHIELD also had stepped in for his most recent case. In the newly refurbished lab on the examination table behind a thick pane of glass sat the charred and broken remains of both the gauntlet used to kill half of humanity; but also one half of nanotech armor that’d been painfully removed from Tony Stark’s corpse after it melded to his skin.

A few bits and pieces of debris were there too, any residual energy the stones left behind resided within these items. He didn’t know what SHIELD or the government wanted with them, it's not like the residual energy would be able to do much, and even if it could he didn’t trust what’d they’d cook up.

Someone using them to kill half of humanity was enough to let him know danger and power shouldn’t be in a potentially corrupt system's hands. He didn’t enjoy lying, it certainly never brought him any comfort, that didn’t mean he wasn’t prepared to lie to their faces about whatever results he’d get out of it.

One might think the easier option would be to turn the offer down and not look into it. Except if he didn’t they’d just find someone else who fit the bill in their books, someone who’d bend to their will. He was no such man.

Reed was a scientist, a flexible man with ideas and knowledge that was always expanding. The next person didn’t have to be as malleable as he, nor did they have to share his morals. Reed figured SHIELD and the government would benefit greatly from that fact if things did go the other way.

“It’s odd to think that these are the labs Tony Stark once worked in,” Ben’s voice carried, startling Reed from his stupor as he looked down at the gauntlets.

“What’s more disappointing is how much someone would pay to get their hands on these,” His sigh was one Ben had long since become accustomed too. He agreed with the distaste because it seemed that a fancy collector would want something as monemutal as Tony Stark’s sacrifice in their home. It made him sick, and he still couldn’t believe he was seeing the items with his own eyes.

“Yeah,” Ben harrumphed, watching as his friend sat on a newly squeaky stool, hand buried in his facial hair as he began to shift the items with the robotic arms behind the glass. 

“Sue and Johnny will be here in a few hours to unpack their rooms, I can handle this for now if you want to unpack your own,” Reed’s eyes didn’t stray from the task at hand, and Ben didn’t blame him.

“My room will be there, these on the other hand. I won’t have as much time with,” pulling up another stool, Ben took a seat, activating the other robotic arm before inspecting the remains of the battle with fascination and pain in his eyes. 

* * *

“Good design, but a rather idioctic and misguided display,” Victor tutted at the charred and waterlogged remains of the drones used to deceive Spider-Man. His own bots would be at work soon enough, not only could he take the city, he could take the world. 

The heroes were done for now, more would rise, and even more would come to their ends. The least he could do in this time of defenselessness and false peace was wait, providing a limbo before what he had coming next.

He didn’t need anything more to get to work, but if there was a possibility the residual energy of the infinity stones could help his cause, he would use it. If there really was nothing left, well he’d have a memento of a man he didn’t respect. For his IQ was extraordinary, it  _ in his mind _ had not been used in the ways it should have been.

Stark’s accomplishments had nearly made him grin, and had he known the man had invented actual time travel he may have respected him more, but his ego didn’t quite allow it. The man had the world in his hands and didn’t take it.

A dead man no matter how great should not be treated as a god when there was one still alive and ready to rule. It could be said they were two different types of gods, and Victor Von Doom albeit begrudgingly agreed. 

Someday soon people would worship him the same way they did Stark, and he’d be alive to see it.

* * *

Johnny wasn’t sure how it was expected of him to go back to school and just pretend nothing had changed. He wasn’t dumb enough to believe that he was the only person who was struggling. Seeing the misfit kids that’d tripped in the halls were now older than him with punches easily thrown and that wasn’t even the most jarring of developments.

He guesses in a world of loss it was hard to say soft and optimistic, those two words didn’t exactly fit the people in his run down school or neighborhood, now even more so. Mike Snow still riled him up, his teachers still didn’t teach, tests continued to fly over his head and he kept up with it all with a cocky attitude and witty retorts.

He was flexible. Though they weren’t related by blood, Johnny had always appreciated his family dynamic with Reed. The same way he thinks Sue appreciated Ben being around. The four of them had a dynamic suited well to them all, while Reed and him could be fluid and unencumbered by most things besides their pursuits.

Both his sister Susan and family friend Ben were far from fluid. They were rocks with a bullheadedness that made unsavory interactions with them unbearable. They were the immovable objects to their unstoppable force. 

“Johnny!” The teen cringed at the voice calling to him, the mocking, brooklyn accent had him grinding his teeth. Mike slammed his larger hand down on his shoulder, fingers digging into his skin, bruising it before speaking again.

“Word is you’re moving into Stark Tower,” It was obviously a question even though it wasn’t stated as such. He might run his mouth quite a bit but he knew what things shouldn’t be said.

He had a feeling in confirming his new place of address, Mike and anyone else who thought they could worm their way into his new home through him would never leave him alone. So in response he bit back with some actual charm which Mike was lacking.

“If that’s the word then I’m surprised you can read,” The words weren’t even halfway out of his mouth before the coy words were lifted with his grin while Mike squaked indignantly. 

Johnny didn’t catch the punch aimed his way in time, though when the knuckle connected with his face, his own arm swung hard on impulse. Knocking Mike Snow clean out and onto the dirty floor while the other kids cheered.

There wasn’t any loyalty in Glenville high, bullies didn’t have possy’s and when there was a fight whoever won was cheered on while the loser lost more than his dignity. If it was him who’d been knocked to the ground they’d have cheered Mike on and kicked his limp form until bone had shattered.

It didn’t take long until the school nurse showed up, she wasn’t surprised nor distrubed as she hefted Mike’s unconscious form onto the gurney, with his help. She looked up at him then with tired yet seemingly proud eyes.

“Nice throw deary, why don’t I send you home early with an ice pack?” Nurse Magladale crooned, Johnny knew her well, she was an older woman who fussed over him whenever he was sent to her office.

He knew her soft spot for him was because he looked remarkably like her son who’d died in combat. Johnny didn’t mind the attention or that she was practically using him to cope, she was like a grandma he’d never had. Not only that but she had the habit of getting him out of class early, she wasn’t like the other faculty all dull and monotone, she shared his mischievous attitude meaning he’d hide in the small room often for the company rather than go to class. 

She knew his classes were nothing more than plain druggery and preferred he not waste his time. Plus this was Glenville High of all places, no one cared if they saw him leaving campus. It was the officers that got all fidgety, they were there for some kids parole, and it certainly wasn’t him on parole so he wondered why they pretended to care. The notes she gave him luckily saved him from their wrath, but they were still tedious to deal with.

Being polite he pushed the gurney to her office for her, accepting the ice pack with a grin as she wrote out his note in cursive more swirled than an icecream cone. Mike stirred not long into the encounter leaving Johnny to duck into the supply closet and listen to the other boy angrily sputtering before he stormed out of her office.

“He left deary,” Nurse Magladale called out as soon as she knew the other boy had stomped down the hall.

“Thank you,” He praised, taking the offered lollipop she handed him after he’d stepped from the ammonia reeking closet. 

“Now out the window you go, watch out for that bugger Franklin. He seems to have a superiority complex,” He knew who she was referring to, one of the new parole officers who’d been increasingly irritating to not only the students but the faculty as well.

“I will, thanks Mrs. Magladale,” Johnny stuck his leg out the window, used to slipping through it by now and ducked out to her answering nod and smile. Franklin he could see several blocks away, seemingly bothering some other kid about an ankle monitor leading Johnny to hurry his steps before he managed to pass through the hole in the fence.

Intermittently Johnny kept the pack pressed to his swelling eye, it didn’t look too bad but his under eye and nose had a line of black across them. Sue wouldn’t be happy when she saw him, Reed would sigh but get him more ice, and Ben would roll his eyes. Oddly enough he was looking forward to it, so he started the long walk to Baxter tower, a little disheartened he didn’t see any webbing stuck to the buildings he passed.

There didn’t seem to be any superheroes anymore beside the discount Captain America the government was trying to sell with fireworks and stupid shows. Whoever the US agent guy was, he wasn’t Steve Rogers, Falcon, or Buchanan Barnes, so no one really cared.

He wondered who’d take their place. Some adventurous calling in his heart, like any teenager, wished it was him.

* * *

Susan had just finished with some reshoots for her show before a text from Ben came through her phone.

_ “Your husbands more in his head than usual.” _

She smiled softly at the text, just imagining her husband's lopsided grin, his facial hair tousled by his hand. Susan loved him more than she could ever express in words, it was hard for him but she knew he returned the sentiment.

_ “Forgive him Ben, he’s secretly fanboying and I know you are too,” _ she sent back, her assistant stood at the ready beside her, mint pack in hand. She always felt as if her breath grew rancid after talking and pronouncing big words on her show for hours at a time.

Sometimes she wondered how she ended up on a science themed show and also ended up married to one of the smartest men on earth. She doubted anyone could answer that question so it wasn’t one she asked aloud. If she asked Reed she was sure he’d be in his head for weeks before telling her something along the lines of she unconsciously made her own path. They just happened to have a pattern.

“Where should I take you ma’am?” Her chauffer hummed, a warm feeling filling her chest as she thought of her new home.

“Baxter Tower please,” 

* * *

He wasn’t exactly sure how he’d managed to get to the tower before his sister, it was probably due to the fact he wasn’t used to the traffic, nor was his sister. The doorman eyed him wearily and Johnny almost thought the man would block him from entering if it wasn’t for Ben exiting the large door and acknowledging him.

“Wish I could have seen who did that,” Johnny didn’t take it to heart but he did flip the older man off, following him to his car because he knew he’d get lost the second he walked into the building if he went in alone.

“Since you're here, carry this for me,” Ben thrust a box of god knows what into his arms while grabbing one himself and trekking back to the tower’s entrance. The doorman didn’t so much as glance at him this time, whether it be because he’d figured out he owned the place or he just didn’t want to question Ben’s intimidating mug. 

“How’d you get that shiner?” Johnny almost missed the question as he took in the first floor, his gaze being cut off when the elevator door closed.

“Mike,” His answer was short, tone uninterested as if it was a daily occurance, which it kinda was. Ben gave a gruff noise of acknowledgment and nothing more, leaving them in an awkward silence. Weren’t elevators supposed to have music?

“Is it because of the tower?” Ben finally asked a few floors before their stop, Ben knew how that school was, how the students were. Vultures, picking on anyone and everyone, bombarding those they got the sense had anything good in their lives.

Johnny moving into what was once Stark tower was the equivalent to them to someone being set for life with riches and opportunities. They were jealous little heathens, and as much as Johnny’s cocky nature and snippy remarks got on his nerves, he was still like an honorary nephew, and Johnny for all his bravado cared about people. So Ben would protect and look out for him in any way he could.

“Something like that,” The elevator dinged and the doors opened, Ben nodded towards the desk and Johnny set the box down. 

“Don’t take it to heart, kid. Now come on. Help me get your father out of his head,” The encouragement was welcome, he didn’t offer it much, especially when it came to Johnny, he didn’t do soft.

“Sue’s better at that than I am,” Johnny remarked.

“True, but if he sees your face he’s going to stop overthinking the residue on the gauntlets,” 

“Well I’m glad this could be good for something,” That did get a deep nearly inaudible chuckle from the older man as they headed back to the elevator. Johnny knew the building was heavily equipped with tech, maybe he’d be able to bluetooth his phone to the speaker system.

His songs would be much better than whatever elevator music they’d put in.

“Reed!” Johnny shouted the second the elevator doors opened, his voice startled the genius nearly off his stool. 

“Johnny,” Reed’s voice came out as no more than a whisper of exhaustion. His green eyes looked to the teen before widening, hurrying off the stool and approaching his little brother. Memories of a younger Johnny with a bump on his head coming to mind.

“I already got an ice pack,” Johnny murmured, taking the melted pack from his pocket. 

“This is melted Johnny and your face is purple,” Johnny appreciated his father figures deadpan until, “Also you’re here early,” maybe if he stayed quiet he wouldn’t get a lecture about skipping school. It’s not like he hadn’t heard it hundreds of times before, he didn’t know why they wasted their breaths repeating the same old lesson he’d never learn.

“Well they didn’t want me there with a black eye, too much of a distraction.”

“A distraction to what? Your teachers barely have an IQ to teach even if they were trying,” Insults very rarely came out of Reed but his displeasure for non-teaching teachers grated on his nerves, especially when falculty allowed students to slip through the cracks. Such as Johnny missing so much school and getting beat up. Not once in all the times Johnny had gotten in a scuffle had they called to inform them, not even when Johnny’s skull had been fractured, clear fluid leaking from his ears.

The teen shrugged as an answer, Reed taking it for face value before his large hands came up to assess his injuries. No bumps or cracks, there wasn’t any blood in the teen’s hair, and no fluid was running from his nose, mouth, or ears.

“The movers have been unpacking, I’m not sure if your bed’s in your room yet. But if it is, you should take a nap Johnny. And not one of your coma naps where you manage to flip your sleeping schedule because you decided to sleep seven hours of daylight away,” 

“Got it, but I don’t even know where my room is. So someone’s going to have to show me around,” Johnny’s body turned toward the elevator, his timing impeccable because they opened to his sisters face who went from pleased to down right pissed at the sight of him.

“Did you get in another fight?” Always a mediator, Reed stepped in to save him from her wrath.

“I already talked with him, called the school. It was Self-defense,” Both Johnny and Reed were surprised about the lie but her features schooled into relief before she ran a hand through her little brother's hair.

Her thumb carefully running over his colored skin, eyes soft as she pressed a kiss to his cheek before looking over to Ben and then her husband.

“I know you two have work to do, but I was thinking we could break the place in. I just saw the movers install the TV and bring in the couch, we could watch something,” the three appreciated the suggestion, the large empty place wasn’t very homey yet.

“Did you guys want to see them first?” Reed asked, seeing how both his wife and Johnny’s eyes shifted to the glass behind him. Coming forward, the two blondes peaked through the glass at items so terribly astounding their hearts nearly skipped a beat.

“So what exactly are you trying to do with them?” Susan questioned, her fingers gently clicking on the glass. 

“See if there’s any residual energy from the stones, and if there is I don’t have the slightest clue on how to activate it,” Reed admitted with clear frustration in his voice.

“It’ll be a lot of trial and error for sure,” Ben groaned, crossing out another option on a notebook before setting it down.

“What if it's like in the movies where some explosion or something ignites them?” It seemed logical enough for Johnny, and he assumed laughable to them but he didn’t regret saying it. 

Three sets of eyes immediately whipped to him, shock, bewilderment, and contemplation on their faces. 

“Kid that might be the smartest thing you’ve ever said, while phrasing it in the dumbest way possible,” Ben announced.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,”

“I’m sure you will,” Ben retorted, while Reed rushed back to his stool, scooting as close to the glass as possible, patience running thin to the point he moved to the door, fully ready to expose himself to the items within.

“If we’re igniting them, shouldn’t we keep the door closed?” Ben harrumphed as Susan pulled her husband back by the shoulder.

“I have to inspect them to know what will ignite them, that’ll be easier done by hand. It won’t hurt me,” Reed explained, the door opening and they all followed suit, including something they did not see nor did they expect.

It hadn’t taken Victor long to figure out who the idiots at SHIELD and running the country had entrusted the gauntlets with. The cosmic radiation on the items were unstable but there, the boy had suggested igniting them and what a thing that’d be.

He watched through the drone, utilizing the BARF technology so graciously left behind. Chance wasn’t a game Victor enjoyed taking part in, so he couldn’t have them igniting the items now before he could figure out a way to harness the energy.

It was clear to him he could utilize the radiation even when it wasn’t entirely necessary, but his interest had peaked and he couldn’t stop now. Another thing that’d garnered his attention was the man put in charge of this undertaking. Reed Richards, a man with an IQ so perilously close to Stark’s that anger rose up within him. 

Victor hadn’t risen up when Stark had been in power due to his backing, it’d been a numbers game. Stark’s 270 compared to his own 198, and here Reed Richards was with 267 with no backup and morals Victor assumed were stronger than the late heroes which would put him at a disadvantage.

Not to mention Victor had far more than his robots up his sleeve, maybe in another life Reed and him could have had a proper rivalry. The doctor could only dream of such things, a proper rivalry would bring him some fun, or maybe it was the prospect of potentially stamping someone smarter than him out until he was the last being with an intellect grand enough to keep him in power.

Now how could he stop them from igniting those pieces? 

“So can’t we just light them on fire? That will ignite them right?” Johnny questioned, pulling a matchbook from his pocket which his sister grabbed immediately.

“No,” She hissed, smacking him upside the head lightly, lips pursed before she shoved the matches in her pocket. Victor who watched behind the drones camera appreciated her intervention, and it was obvious the other two men did as well.

‘Who carries matches anymore?’ Ben thought to himself, watching as his friends escorted their psuedo child out of the room for another talking to. Reed couldn’t save the teen from every tirade. Serves the little pyro right.

On their haste out, Reed’s shoulder knocked into something, a drone appearing seemingly from nowhere. It spiralling out and onto the nanotech gauntlet before bursting into flames, igniting the residue to the point the cosmic radiation colored the air in a fury of colors before they could even blink.

“No!” Victor screamed, his live feed crashing, hopes of utilizing the radiation lost as the last bit of energy left was pushed outwards into the world and potentially into the four’s bodies, most likely killing them or disfiguring them to the point they’d die a slow and painful death.

“So much for that venture,” he dismayed, getting back to his work.

* * *

The blast sent the four flying, a loud kaleidoscopic aura sinking into their skin. Ben being the closest felt his skin rise, strain crunching down on him as the formation of sarsen broke out over his body, tearing his skin and rubbing the open wounds with the texture of sandpaper.

His large mass had doubled in seconds, the ground fracturing against his boulderstone exterior. The pain didn’t last long as the world began to fade out in his eyes, his last thought silly. He wondered why he couldn’t feel his ears pressing into the ground when all he could hear was the catastrophe around him.

Reed groaned as his body stretched, something telling him his body wasn’t in the same space as the rest of it. It was as if his body had been forced into a taffy puller, stretching him over himself in bunches, pulling him not nearly as taught as his body now told him it could be. 

His last action before his body fell into the dark was to pull himself back together until his proportions were as correct as he could make them through his pain; it wasn’t perfect but he couldn’t bring himself to care as he drowned in unconsciousness.

Susan’s body physically didn’t disappear from the planes of this world but she did vanish from everyone's eyes. Her hand rested over Johnny’s shoulder, his unconscious body feeling the comfort but if he’d woken and opened his eyes he wouldn’t see the sister who’d raised him. 

The only thing Johnny felt was the heat from the blast and a burning in his stomach. Besides that, he felt nothing at all but his sisters hold and the pang of his head when it hit the floor.

* * *

Johnny tore his eyes open only to close them again when a wave of nausea overtook him. His hand absently came up to cover who he knew to be his sisters hold on his shoulder. Squaring himself against the earthquake in his brain, he forced his eyes open to check on his sister.

The lack of her blonde hair or face at all sent him reeling back, nearly standing on his feet before tripping over...Reed’s waist. The sight of his body had vomit bubbling up in the teen’s gut, at least that’s what he assumed the warmth was.

His waist was stretched and turned over itself, left arm a foot longer than the man’s right. His legs stretched to the point they were longer than his torso and head; the worst part being his neck had gained several inches while his head was thrown back at an unnatural angle.

Johnny turned his head away quickly, only to be horrified at the rock monster on the ground.

“What the fuck is that thing?” He shouted, eyes tearing up because his sister was nowhere to be seen, a rock monster was on the ground and Ben was gone too, lastly his brother in law was dead on the ground being grotesquely pulled apart, possibly by the very thing passed out beside him. 

He needed to get help, he needed a hero or the government, or whoever the hell else was qualified to deal with this. SHIELD, didn’t Reed get assigned this by SHIElD? His phone was still on the counter, grabbing the device Johnny hoped with all his being that the elevator still worked.

It really wasn’t safe to not have a stairwell, it may sound tiring with the building being so large but the lack of it had to break several regulations. The doors opened and Johnny almost didn’t trust it but got in anyway.

Typing in his sister and Reed’s anniversary into the phone, the teen held back tears as he scrolled through his now deceased father figures phone until he found one that he was sure belonged to a SHIELD agent.

“Direct Fury speaking,” this Fury guy didn’t sound amused but Johnny didn’t fucking care, his family was dead and this needed to be handled now.

* * *

Susan’s eyes opened, wrist seemingly restrained along with her legs because she couldn’t move. Lifting her head, her blue eyes twinkled in shock. Half of her body was invisible, a jagged line across her torso.

The restraints wheezed and clinked as she pulled at them, it an absolute wonderment to the senses that she could feel the restraints and see them moving but not see her arm or leg writhing against them.

Ripping her gaze away from her body, a scream escaped her lips when she saw the hospital bed beside her, holding her husband's strewn and stretched body that was also restrained at several points.

Three beds were tied together at the end of the room, wrought metal chain’s holding down a rocky body whose features seemed to be slipping through. It looked awfully a lot like Ben. 

If they were all here, then where was Johnny? Struggling against the binding, Sue did the only thing she could do from where she was stuck, scream her brother's name.

Immediately both the rocky thing and her husband turned, the sound seemingly snapping whatever elasticity had overtaken her husband because his body snapped back into its original shape.

“Sue,” he called out desperately, jerking and giving himself whiplash when the bonds kept him down.

A groaning crackle of shifting rocks filled the air as the thing tried to sit up too. The metal keeping him down breaking immediately in his haste.

“Did the radiation do this?” Reed questioned immediately, wondering if his wife was in pain considering he couldn’t see half of her body, “Oh god Ben,” the man dismayed as he took in the sight of his best friend covered in hard stalactite. 

A swish sounded in the air as the door opened, a hulking green figure with glasses stepped in, arms up in a placating matter. Their frantic panic eased only in the slightest when they realized it was Doctor Banner otherwise known as Professor Hulk.

“Easy big fella,” the Avenger directed at Ben who’s rocky guise fell through the rolling beds as their straps broke.

“What happened?” Ben ground out angrily as he struggled with getting to his feet with his new body mass.

“Let me explain. When the drone that snuck into Avengers-”

“Baxter,” Reed corrected absently.

“Baxter tower, the drone blew up and the infinity stones cosmic radiation reacted. The energy released seemed to do something similar to what the gamma radiation had done to me and what radiation did to Spider-Man. It gave you powers. We don’t know if your powers are controllable, but it seems like at least subconsciously it's possible. When they picked you up, Susan you were completely invisible. Reed it seems your body finally came together recently, and Ben your features seem to be slowly slipping through your  Keratinocytes.”

“What about Johnny?” Susan didn’t care about what had happened to herself, her only thought was on her little brother who was nowhere to be seen. 

“He’s the one who called, SHIELD’s not too...understanding in these matters. We checked him over to see if he’d been affected by the radiation and we didn’t find anything that’d suggest it’d harmed him or gave him any ailments in the same way you have. After he was cleared, he ran off. I don’t think they told him you guys were actually alive,” the Hulk’s voice grew soft, sad in the news he had to give.

It seemed lately that all the young heroes he’s been around lately had been suffering some great loss.

“No, no, no,” Susan chanted, pulling hard at her restraints, Ben hunching over managed to make his way over to her, ripping them off before doing the same with his friend who looked upset and contemplative at the same time. The Hulk tried to intervene, knowing they weren’t well enough to leave and they certainly couldn’t when only half of her body was visible and one was still in his rocky form if he could even change back.

Susan got a foot away from the door before it opened and an eyepatch wearing man stepped in her path.

“I hope you didn’t think you were just going to run out of here looking like that,” Rage built in the invisible woman as he chastised her.

“I sent one of my best after the boy, she’ll let him know you're alright and if she can’t find him I’m sure someone else will. I’m here to offer you all an extended proposition seeing that your work with the infinity stones has been suspended.”

“What’s the offer?” Reed’s tone was calmer than Fury, Hulk, or his family had expected. 

“The Avengers are being built back from the ashes, we lost some of our best and those left are training the next Avengers. The world needs heroes and when you get your powers under control, we want your help in keeping the world safe,” The three had a feeling the man had this same conversation at least a hundred times, only Bruce knew that was actually true.

Reed’s hand went up to his beard in thought, looking to both his wife and friend, swallowing thickly.

“I won’t speak for Ben or my wife, but I am willing to consult. It’d be wrong not to use these powers for something, but I won’t fully sign my rights over to you or SHIELD, not after whatever you’d done in managing Spider-Man and how you and the government handled the Accords,” Reed’s protective instinct flared when he noticed the man’s head turn at the mention of the arachnid hero.

“And Mr. Storm?”

“Johnny?” Susan spoke up incredulously, Ben even giving a protective grunt at the question.

“You said Johnny wasn’t showing any signs of having the same...unique abilities,” Reed pointed out, obviously encouraging the man to explain. 

“He’s not but in case he does and he starts gallivanting as a hero, he’ll have to be under someone’s watch. Meaning if you’re consulting, he’ll go under your care,”

“Is that what happened with Spider-Man? Once Stark died you guys took control without any care for his safety?” Reed was a little surprised that Ben was talking so much, and that the growl didn’t come out of his own mouth, but it was a valid question.

“Dr. Richards, since you’ve just agreed to consult, if any of you. Meaning your wife, your friend Rock head over here, or your brother-in-law. If any of them partake in any sort of vigilantism, they’ll be held accountable for consulting as well. We’ll work through you since you seem to be most on board and knowledgeable about what we need. And since it's only consulting, you won’t be Avengers, but you can be in a league of your own,” Fury’s voice seemed dull, as if he was done with explaining and coaxing them into agreeing.

“Agreed, now can you bring us our kid?” It was the most emotion they’d heard out of the doctor all day.

Fury gave a nod and both him and the Hulk left, leaving the three alone. 

“Something tells me it's wrong if we don’t use these powers,” Sue admitted, not noticing as her other leg disappeared in her sadness. Ben groaned, walking over to the broken bed’s and taking a seat.

“Well if I’m going to be a rock monster, I might as well be a hero too,” More of his features smoothed out over the rock, he was looking more like himself every minute it seemed.

“We’ll do this together,” Reed’s voice left them in silence, waiting for their missing family member with their brows furrowed in worry. 

* * *

“Fancy car,” Johnny noted, sticking his feet on the dashboard as the blonde man in the driver's seat maneuvered throughout the city's traffic. 

“A bit,” Everett spoke, not minding the teen’s behavior after becoming somewhat friends with Shuri. She called him often to check in, and he knew his contact name in her phone was ‘Colonizer’ but he didn’t mind.

He’d been idle for so long he’d forgotten what active combat was actually like, the battle in Wakanda had changed him. His coworkers noticed as well, they didn’t seem to appreciate it but the heroes did and that’s what mattered.

“You guys didn’t have to come check up on me,” Johnny urged, knowing he looked a mess with his busted lip and bleeding nose. Getting in a fight with Mike to deal with the deaths of his family had not been the right call, especially when this poor guy who was shorter than him had to pull him off. Then explain his family hadn’t died and they were simply being fixed up.

“Not really no, but I wasn’t not going to check up on you. You experienced something terrible and weren’t given any answers as if to what happened. I went to find you because I wanted to make sure you’d be taken care of,” 

“That doesn’t mean you're going to kill me or something?”

Everett rolled his eyes, the monitor on the dash igniting as a text from Fury popped up.

_ ‘Find Mr. Storm, his family wants to see him,’ _

“You seem to be a few steps ahead,” Johnny pointed out, fingering his pockets in search of his matchbook only to pout when he found nothing. 

“That’s not a bad thing in this business,” Everett applied, the screen lighting up again.

_ ‘Colonizer if I were to pay you to teach me some of your top secret fancy flying techniques, would you accept?’ _

“Who’s Princess Shuri of Wakanda?” 

“Exactly who it says,” Everett smiled, turning the wheel in his hands, “She’s another teen who got caught up in the superhero business,” he added as an afterthought. The teen seemed to accept that, nodding thoughtfully.

“Should I text her your answer?” The teen smiled, tapping the screen.

“Yeah, let her know she doesn’t have to pay me and I think she knows everything I would try to teach her,” 

Johnny tapped in the response, “You’re a pilot?”

“Used to be,” the agent confirmed.

“Tell me about it,” Johnny requested, wondering what it felt like to fly. He didn’t mean to fly in a normal plane, but to cut through the air with quick maneuvers and accelerated speed.

He could always ask Ben, the man had the experience to answer all his questions. Johnny as much as he’d loathe to admit it liked Ben, appreciated his presence even when it was grouchy ever since he was little. The teen still didn’t feel comfortable asking his family friend so he settled with the nice man in the seat beside him.

* * *

Reed extended his arm with ease, the appendage stretching out towards the door and then back to his side. He’d been repeating the process for thirty minutes, Susan had closed her eyes and tried to meditate, each long exhale slowly bringing her back to visibility. 

Ben tried to copy Susan’s relaxation techniques but didn’t seem to get anywhere with it. In fact anytime he grew frustrated with it not working, the rocks on his skin grew firmer and his features were harder to find.

The door swished open, Johnny stepping in looking worse than he had when they last saw him. Susan crushed him into her arms immediately, body stabilizing into its usual self as she kissed his cheek and began to inspect the damage on his face.

Reed’s arms extended, pulling the two closer and into a hug. The genius’ arm left his little family to pull his rocky friend over who hesitated but joined soon after, almost immediately Ben’s guise fell away and he was himself again, his pants low on his hips after they’d been torn.

Taking a blanket from the bed for privacy, the four resumed the hug before letting go. 

“So you guys are superheroes now?” Johnny asked a little dejectedly.

“It seems so,” Reed confirmed, the teen nodded, leaning against his sister's hand. 

“Does that mean you’re going to go after whoever was spying on us with the drone?” It was a question that had yet to be asked, one Johnny, Reed, and SHIELD wanted to know. Now that the question was in the air, Ben seemed angry and ready for answers as did Sue.

“We’ll be doing smaller things first, training, whoever used the drone isn’t someone we’re ready to fight,” the three nodded, their moment ending when the door opened again.

“It seems you’re decent enough to go home now, I wouldn’t be leaving your tower very soon though,” Fury announced, handing over an outfit for Ben since his had been destroyed in his earlier transformation.

“I’ll have you escorted out, the three of you will have to be in a different vehicle than Mr. Storm as a safety precaution,” Fury explained.

“Everett going to drive me back?” The teen questioned getting odd looks from the rest of his family.

Fury nodded, heading back to the elevator with the four in tow. When they reached the main lobby, Johnny walked over to a short blonde man immediately while Fury gestured to another man waiting idly nearby.

* * *

The teen looked out the glass window that took up a whole wall of his room, feeling hot in his gut. Maybe the radiation had actually gotten him sick? He’d had the same boiling feeling in his gut since he’d woken up after the blast.

When he’d gotten in another fight with Mike and had been forced to face the fact he’d lost his family, he’d felt hot with rage. Almost as if he got a fever out of nowhere, he was almost sure he’d started steaming.

The Fantastic Three were currently out, helping Doctor Strange with god knows what. It turns out Susan wasn’t only able to turn herself invisible but she could also manifest something he could only describe as force fields. Reed would be able to explain it better, but Johnny knew if he tried it’d go in one ear and out the other.

Ben had figured out how to grow out his rocky layers and shed them off at will. Reed made them royal blue super suits with a little three on the collarbone. Johnny personally thought the three on suit looked ugly, ‘The Fantastic Three’ sounded stupid too.

There was the possibility he was simply being a bratty jealous kid, Everett didn’t seem to think so. He checked in on the three heroes often and always made time for Johnny, which he was thankful for. 

Mr. Fantastic, Invisible girl, and The Thing were consuming his life. No one shut up about them, and he was forced to watch their training at home while they rubbed it in and he was furious.

It should have been The Fantastic Four. It even sounded better.

* * *

“You’ve been down sweetheart,” Mrs. Magladale frowned, stitching up the gash in his shoulder. He’d been shoved hard, the sticky floor unable to save him as his shoulder slammed into the door of a left open locker.

“Yeah, life’s been more of a bitch then usual,” He smiled, wincing at the pull of his skin coming together.

“I hear that,” she agreed, grabbing a bandage and placing it over the neatly done stitches. 

“These are for you,” she smiled, handing over several bandages and a customary lollipop. Hidden throughout the bandages was a matchbook with a scythe depicted on its cover. 

“You’re the best,” He smiled, sliding the window open further so he could escape for the day, accepting the doctor's note slid into his hand. 

“I know,” 

Slipping out the window and out of the hole in the fence, Johnny fished his jacket out of his bag before pulling out his yellow Gucci hoodie and heading to an empty lot he’d been scoping out for a week.

The lot was filled with old pieces of scrap metal and broken twigs. Grabbing the splintered wood he threw the few pieces in a pile before lighting a match and watching it burn.

Fire had always brought him comfort, the flames dancing hypnotically in the wind, the air surrounding him while the warm autumn colors were a sharp contrast to his green eyes. The flames were enticing, its gravitational pull bringing his hand towards the whipping flames for him to swiftly swipe his fingers through the hazardous force.

He’d always been venturesome, it’s the reason his instinct forced him still while his fingers were still engulfed. They didn’t burn.

Removing his hand quickly as if it’d actually stung, the teen looked down at his fingers, amazed to see that they weren’t charred to the bone. In fact, his fingers tingled zealously.

Shaking from his stupor the teen stamped out the fire with his foot, beginning his trek back to the tower with his head a clustered mess of uncertainty.

A screech met the air as a familiar car pulled up beside him, Johnny didn’t hesitate to enter the car knowing who was driving it.

“We figured out who sent the drone after the gauntlets,” Everett explained, “He goes by Doctor Doom. A bit dramatic personally,” the man huffed, “Your family managed to get in the way of one of his shipments or whatever the hell it was. He also didn’t seem too pleased that the cosmic radiation left the three of you with powers. When someone's name is quite literally Doctor Doom I figured his flair for dramatics would mean he’d try to fight the Fantastic Three or use something, ahem, someone against them,”

“You think he’s going to come after me to get to them?” Johnny clarified.

“Possibly, I certainly wouldn’t put it past him.” 

After a long beat of silence, the man spoke again: “They said you were a pyro, seemed more like you made a campfire more than anything else,”

“I accidently blew up a trashcan once and suddenly I was not to be trusted with lighters or matches,” The teen popped his lips making a loud sound, seemingly unbothered by his fascination. 

Johnny never worried about his interest because he wouldn’t dare light a place that could cause problems, he stayed away from fields and meadows. Never lighting any structure even if it was seconds away from coming down.

He’d even bought a silicone respirator mask for when he was lighting something that’d cause a decent amount of smoke.

“There’s a matchbook in the glove compartment if you want to take it, it’s not as fancy looking as the one in your hand but I figure the matches mean more than the cardboard sleeve they’re in,”

Popping open the compartment, Johnny slid the matchbook into his hand, thumb brushing over the rough striker. The prickled feeling reminding him of how just minutes ago he’d cooked his fingers in fire and they didn’t burn.

Pulling out a match, the teen slid it over his ear, his hair flopping to cover the object and hiding it from view.

“Yeah, thank you,” Johnny smiled, rolling his hurt shoulder with a wince causing the driver’s eyes to flicker to him worriedly.

“Stitches,” he informed easily, rolling his neck and leaning his head against the window.

“How’d you manage that?”

“Got shoved into a locker door,”

“That’s a bit not good,”

“A bit not good yeah,”

* * *

“We haven’t talked much lately,” Reed cooed softly, hand resting firmly on the teen’s shoulder as they walked through one of the tower's upper levels. It was empty, needing to be filled meaning the two of them were up there to figure out some kind of use for it.

Reed had already transformed two empty floors into training rooms, but they were beyond stumped when they walked throughout the area where great heroes once relaxed.

Both Ben and Sue were several floors above on the helipad, Ben stood by as Susan practiced using her fields to keep her afloat in the air.

“We’ve all been pretty busy,” The teen shrugged, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been in the room with his brother-in-law. The days had been blurring together, the only moments of importance to the teen being the moments where he could light a fire and stand within the flames, feeling nothing but a hugging warmth of gas tickling his skin. 

He’d been tempted to tell his family about the development but knew being flame retardant wasn’t exactly the best superpower to be working with. He could still get hurt, and he couldn’t professionally fight either. His power was beneficial to his own interest, it was not beneficial for a fight.

It bummed him out that he wouldn’t get to suit up in that lovely royal blue uniform, but his penchant for flames couldn’t be happier his skin was no longer vulnerable to its destructive beauty.

“It seems with the Avengers gone the bad guys are getting bold,” Reed used the words as an excuse for their absence, he knew it didn’t make up for the lost time with his pseudo-son but it seemed harder and harder to connect with the teen who seemed indifferent to everything that wasn’t fire.

The teen lifted his hand to help block out the glistening sun from his eyes, being so high up was pretty but the sun was rather inconvenient when he wanted to sleep in. His black out curtains couldn’t arrive any sooner.

“Well that’s why you're here Reed, you’re Mr. Fantastic,” the teen’s brow furrowed as the sun that he’d been trying to block out of his eyes went away, it being odd since there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky.

Confused at the development, the genius turned his head as an armada of drones lifted up into the sky. There weren’t traditional drones, more accurately they were hefty robots with propellers keeping them afloat.

Reed’s body expanded into a flat sheet as he jumped onto his brother-in-law, the Doom bots crashing into the glass sending shards flying, cutting up the genius’ skull. His elasticity deflected most shards from imbedding into his own skin, but Johnny hadn’t been impaled at all so Reed took it as a win.

On the balcony Susan’s body fell from where she’d been levitating into Ben’s now rocky arms, he set her down quickly. Arms out as the bots shot towards them and crashed into their bodies. 

Susan barely managed to send out a forcefield to push back the assault of bulbous machines before one slammed into her back and another coming from the front knocked into her head. Her body flipping in the air and off the edge of the helipad, she was only just able to latch onto a railing. Her body then acting on impulse and hiding her from the world. 

Ben swiped three bots clean out of the air with a clean swoop of his arm. The bots were durable, Ben would give them that because after several direct hits from his strength their outer casing was only now starting to crack.

Twenty of the damn things slammed into the backs of The Things legs, his body cracking the top layer of the helipad as he hit the ground, the rupture knocking the Invisible woman’s grip loose and sending her into a free fall.

Sue tried desperately to calm herself as her breath was being forced from her lungs, heart lodging in her throat as her hair although invisible whipped around in the wind, wrapping around her neck and poking her eyes. A silent scream stuck in her throat as she tried to channel her force fields while her body somersaulted in the air.

More Doom bots slammed down onto the Thing, chiselling at his skin, not allowing him to get up off the ground, the weight of his form and the bots making the helipad beneath him brittle and weak. Inching him closer into the same freefall Susan had taken just seconds before.

She certainly wouldn’t be winning any diving competitions and Ben knew he wouldn’t either.

Reed braced the teen beneath him as five large bots slammed against his tarp like skin, doing little to deflect the weight they were pressing through him and onto Johnny. Even as he tried to expand his back outward to give Johnny a chance to get to the elevator and somewhere safe, he knew it wasn’t likely. 

The floor was empty, the teen had nowhere to hide and even if he got in the elevator it wouldn’t be hard for the bots to drop it. A fall from that height would kill him immediately and Reed wouldn’t allow it.

The genius twisted his lower half into a spiral, grabbing onto Johnny and using the momentum to send the boy flying towards the elevator. The teen slid across the floor, getting up on wobbly legs and pushing the elevator button in a rapid succession to no avail, the button wouldn’t light up.

Reed’s body flew past the teen’s head a second later, body a mess of torn fabric and mottled bruises. Blood staining his hair and dripping down his face and into his eyes, his cheekbone cut. 

Johnny knew what he was witnessing, what the world was witnessing. What Doctor Doom had to be witnessing behind the cameras in the bots striking at their skin. The warm feeling he’d grown accustomed too boiled, raging inside him before something strange happened. He went into what he could only describe as autopilot. 

Clarity born is wispy flames as his fingertips seemingly sparked, his arm reaching up behind his ear and grabbing the small wooden match he’d grown accustomed to keeping behind his ear.

Johnny didn’t see as his fingertips burned the thin wood as he struck the match against his jeans before his body went up in flames.

* * *

Sue a few feet off the ground stuck her arms out towards the pavement, expecting a painful excruciating death if her attempts to catch herself failed. Her arms would shatter and break, pushing inwards, up and out through the backs of her shoulders.

Her brain would splatter and her skull would fracture into a million pieces. Her collar bone and cartilage would explode beneath her skin, organs rupturing and breaking out through her open blistering epidermis. It’d be a medical decapitation, a severed spine and all her disks slipping out from their assigned places.

If anyone could see her they’d call it a miracle as The Invisible Woman caught herself a mere millimeter before her fingers could make contact with the asphalt below. Body invisible to the people running away in fear on the street, several people trampled her then, sending her to the ground. Her strength faltered and her arms shook with her weight when she pulled herself up off the ground and limped towards the tower’s entrance.

Her freefall through the air had pulled at her muscles, possibly spraining her muscles and her bones. Dragging herself towards the elevator, her broken and chipped nails pushed hard against the buttons, pleading for the machine to do as she asked while she cursed under her breath.

“Why doesn’t this building have any fucking stairs,” tears were clouding her eyes because Johnny, Reed and Ben were up there against those things. Reed’s powers likely did nothing to help block the blows, the Thing was overpowered and her little brother didn’t have anything to defend himself with. She’d only now saw the problem with their little band of misfits not having any artillery or extra back up to assist. SHIELD had to know about the situation by now, they had to be sending reinforcements to help.

* * *

Ben groaned as his rough exterior clacked when the robots ground down on his  Keratinocytes. The robots were breaking through the layers his new body provided, painfully sanding and dusting the air and the helipad with orange dust.

The tang of rust filled his mouth as one of his back teeth was knocked loose, scratching his gums meaning blood seeped through the spaces between his pearly whites. The chunks of his exterior that fell off he managed to utilize by throwing at the nearest bots, his sharp eye aiming at the dented and cracked metal before it broke. 

Breaking one wasn’t enough compared to the nineteen others acting as hammers on the plains of his...skin. 

His energy was fading fast so he resorted to the only thing he could do, swinging blindly which managed to corral the bots directly above him. Weakening their exteriors as he roared in a last ditch attempt to save himself since he couldn’t save Sue, he hoped his dear friend had managed to catch herself.

The world began to fizzle out around him, the last thing Ben could process before he fell into a dreamless sleep was the warmth of what he assumed was the unfiltered sun that’d stain his skin red if he wasn’t currently a half crushed sediment.

* * *

His body panged in a symphony of canon drums, stretched skin ragged with rash and lashes harbored on top due to broken machines and glass drilling through him. Sharp edges remain buried in the layers of his malleable skin, eyes watering in an attempt to wash out the blood staining his sclera red. 

His lashes clumped with red, blurring and tainting his vision as if he’d slipped on a pair of midnight rouge sunglasses. Reed’s body refused to listen, his injuries leaving him no more than a stretching doll that’d been dropped by a child never to be picked up again. 

Reed’s body flushed at the sudden shift in the air, a heat wave simmered over his skin making his eyes and throat dry, he was almost sure his beard and nose hairs were sizzling.

“Johnny?” He rasped, knowing just seconds ago before his vision had been obscured the teen had been on his feet. A line of blood ran along the crease of his eyelid, obscuring the radiant figure walking while engulfed in flames, arms out sending cataclysmic scalding rays of fire out of his hands and at the doom bots whose casing were dripping and running onto the floor.

The once silver substance now orange as a poppy, burning and raging, flickering and filtering as the wind urged the flames to disperse. Johnny continued on with the oppressive stewing in his chest, the power within spewing as he sent a tycoon of inferno at the doom bots that broke his brother-in-laws skin.

His next bout of flames ended in conflagration, Baxter tower boiling, flames rising higher and higher. Smoke permeated the air, painting the once clear sky a midnight black, the helipad with Ben on top hidden from view as the bots burned on top of him. His rocky skin saving him from the melted metal dripping from their circuits.

Johnny’s rapid oxidation consumed and ate, chipping the paint from the walls and completely obliterating every last doom bot before his flames began to temper down. The last bit of tinder being his hands and feet still harboring whispering thickets of fire. 

The teen could only hope the helipad hadn’t become a pyre, and promptly careened to the ground unconscious. Reed’s vision and reserve although weak bared witness to the once ignited body form again into the boy who’d he raised, fist and feet fuming before those too were extinguished and he hit the ground. The sight was too much for his kelly green eyes which collapsed and took him under the sea of smoke.

Down on the street below Susan screamed as she looked up at the gargantuan buildings, her new found home blazing in rage. Her little brother, her friend, and her husband were up there in danger while she was stuck on the ground, helpless to stop them from burning all the way down to the marrow.

* * *

“There must have been a malfunction in one of the bots, once one went up they likely all did,” Everett explained quietly, mindful of the recovering bodies in the room. Susan didn’t think it was that simple as she sat at her husband's bedside, pillowing his head on her chest and running a hand through his hair.

Ben rolled his eyes at the explanation as well, once he’d shifted back into his human form, so to speak, he wasn’t injured at all besides his missing molar. 

Johnny and Reed remained unconscious, the injury report simply claiming the teen had a few bruised ribs, a bump on the head, and little ill effects from smoke inhalation if any at all. The reason for his sleep was nothing more than exhaustion. Several nurses had tried to assure Susan that the trauma of it all could also be keeping him under but they couldn’t be sure.

Mr. Fantastic had taken the brunt of the attack, his lungs would heal in time and the stitches would mend the tears. The biggest concern was the blood loss which had been taken care of the second medics had arrived.

Dr. Banner, who was familiar with Baxter tower went to inspect the damages, baffled at the patterns the ember had left in its wake. Nonetheless he pulled up the building's blueprints and had his people get to work. It was the least he could do, it had nothing to do with the fact that something about the tower being in disarray had his hands shaking and breath shortening. He really missed Thor.

“We’re not ready to fight Doom or his bots again,” Ben stated bluntly, trying to keep his gaze away from his battered friend, still unconscious with his facial hair in shambles.

“No, no you are not. It isn’t likely he will try to strike again too soon, not if all his bots were destroyed by a fluke,” Everett confirmed, his phone buzzing repeatedly in his pocket. He wished Shuri would talk to her brother about the battle of Wakanda and the final battle with Thanos, he understood her reservations and couldn’t help but feel lucky she decided he was good enough to confide in, that didn’t mean he was probably the best person to send memes too all day but it didn’t stop her.

“It wasn’t a fluke,” Reed wheezed, eyes struggling to stay open as his fingers intertwined with his wives and leaned further into her warm embrace.

The attention in the room immediately shifted to the crumpled hero, waiting with bated breath for the genius’s opinion. If anyone could figure out what had happened it would be Reed.

“We’re waiting,” Ben pushed, knowing his friend always had a thing for the dramatics. His health wasn’t the only reason for such a long pause, and one reason they all picked up on was... _ disbelief. _

“It was Johnny,”

**Author's Note:**

> snap: allisonw1122  
> tumblr/twitter: webtrinsic1122  
> insta: webtrinsic


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